Graduation of SEEED JobsForLife 2 at Westport

The Graduation of the second session of SEEED JobsForLife Youth Transformation, Employment Readiness and Job Placement Programme at Pandamaran took place on Sunday 10 April 2016. The venue was generously sponsored by Westport Holdings, one of our MCII corporate sponsors, at their auditorium.

Graduates took part in a Social Entrepreneur Funding Pitch and delivered high-quality presentations that demonstrated their confidence, public speaking and communication skills, creativity, innovation, critical thinking and time management, project planning and budgeting, product development and market research abilities. Essentially, they were able to showcase their skills acquired at SEEED to show their capabilities as potential employees, project managers and “social entrepreneurs”. The Pitch Showcase was intended to allow participants to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and encourage career flexibility for both employment and social enterprise. These potential youth leaders were groomed to be social impact innovators so that they could develop sustainable grassroots community-based transformation projects in Pandamaran.

Medic Care, an online medical portal

Sign Language Society’s aim was to raise awareness about the hearing impaired.

Team Delirious presented The Better Communication Bootcamp, which offered a three-day bootcamp for youth to improve their communication

Dues for Youth was presented by the Mavericks. Their project aimed to educate youth on GST.

Dues for Youth had a special gimmick, which deserves a mention… they donated RM100 to SIPJ!

Qvcut’s concept was to reduce queuing time by using their app to virtually queue for services

Conceptualiser and Project Lead of SEEED JobsForLife Dato’ Anusha Santhirasthipam said, “They were dressed for success and displayed a winning corporate image. They had less than 2 weeks to develop their Team Presentations with the assistance of Mentors. Imagine what they can accomplish in a corporate environment with the right employer or entrepreneur-mentor? What an awesome Finale for parents and family members to witness their amazing personal journey of transformation, career potential and future prospects.”

CEO of MCII and Chief Judge of the competition Elmarié Potgeiter shared on her facebook, “Today was a wonderful day at the graduation ceremony of the SIPJ SEEED Jobs for Life programme. What an amazing job the SIPJ team did to inspire and develop the skills of the young people who participated in the programme which is part of the MCII approach to improve educational outcomes for young people in Klang.

It was quite an emotional day for parents who were astonished to see their usually shy children rise up to the occasion and present their social entrepreneurial ideas to the panel of judges. The young people were confident and proud and presented in English – something they wouldn’t have been confident to do 10 weeks ago. With intervention and support, these kinds of initiatives will contribute greatly towards harnessing the incredible potential in so many young people who simply haven’t had the opportunity to shine!

I’m inspired by the volunteers – the humility and commitment women who devote so much of their time and energy to helping others. Yet another example of a Malaysian spirit of kindness and generosity of spirit that is not always that well known or overshadowed by negative press. We should celebrate these wonderful acts of love towards others and start believing that change is possible. Anusha Santhirasthipam, you are an inspiration! Congratulations.”

SIPJ is very grateful to MCII, the funders of our SEEED JFL 2 and 3 programmes, and we also thank the expert trainers who participated in the programme and especially, the facilitators and volunteers who gave up their valuable Saturdays to help the youth in Klang.